


Entropy

by LynyrdLionheart



Series: I Am Iron Man's Daughter [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 14:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3853990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynyrdLionheart/pseuds/LynyrdLionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five drabbles from the I am Iron Man('s Daughter) AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Entropy

_Angel of Death_

                The name, Angel of Death, was meant as a joke.  It was Enzo’s way of commenting on her ability to threaten.  He claimed that no one, not even the Widow, could threaten like Caroline.

                The first time she kills a man on a mission for SHIELD, she cries. 

                She manages to keep her tears hidden away through the commendations, Fury telling her she did good and the pats on the back.  When she reaches her room, she breaks down and curls into a ball on her bed, because it’s one thing to snap a neck in the heat of the moment, thinking it’s the only way to save your friend, and quite another to purposely sight a man down the scope and make the decision to pull the trigger.

                Enzo joins her, the only one who was able to see through her stoic expression, to see that her actions were breaking her.  He sits at her side and holds her hand and lets her sob in his lap. 

                It was meant as a joke, but it becomes the last whisper on the lips of the enemies of SHIELD.

                She never cries again, after that first time, but each and every time, Enzo is always there, holding her hand as she breaks a little more, and helping to put the pieces back in their rightful place.

 

_Jealousy_

                She teases Enzo about being the brains of their duo.  She finds it amusing, that the big bad vampire is really a scholar at heart.  She hadn’t expected it, and she knows that if Damon ever found out, Enzo wouldn’t hear the end of it.

                Then she remembers that Damon can never be allowed to find out, and she wonders what the people back home think they’re doing, when they’re not in Mystic Falls.  She supposes it doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t stop the curiosity.

                Enzo gets along amazingly with her father.  She knows, that if Tony had his way, Enzo would be his dream man for her.  He’s smart, he cares about Caroline, and he looks to Tony as the master of all things technological.  Caroline is happy, that Enzo is finding his place amongst the agency, and that her dad has been helping him find that place by expanding his knowledge by leaps and bounds, but she also has to admit to some jealousy.

                She could never be that for her father.  For all that she was Tony Stark’s daughter, she never got the mechanics side of things.  Even if she had, she wouldn’t have pursued it.  Caroline as a human would have worried about chipped nails.

                Vampire Caroline just doesn’t have the aptitude.

                So, she’s torn between happy and jealous every time she sees Tony and Enzo whispering together.  They’re working on a new suit, she knows.  One that can utilize the power of the arc reactor without requiring Tony to have an arc reactor.  Bruce sits in with them every now and then, and even Thor has offered up some ideas form the things he’s seen in Asgard.  Steve just shakes his head and mutters about electricity while Natasha and Barton just back away slowly and go back to admiring the weapons Enzo has been assisting in stream-lining.

                It seems that Caroline is the only one left feeling jealous.  Then again, she’s the only one who’s left wondering if her father doesn’t wish she was more like Enzo.

                Then they have a suit and they’re taking it out for the first test drive and everything goes horribly, horribly wrong because the power fails.  Thor isn’t there and Bruce is somewhere else, speaking with Fury, so Tony is falling… falling…

                Caroline doesn’t even remember moving, but then she’s in the air, and she’s using her body as a shield between Tony and the unforgiving ground.  She doesn’t remember the landing, because the force snaps her neck, leaving her to darkness.

                When she wakes up, Tony is sitting at her side, and he opens his mouth with fire in his eyes, ready to give her hell.

                Caroline beats him to it.

                “What were you thinking?  You could have died.  The suit doesn’t make you invincible!  The force would have crushed you and then… and then…”

                Caroline is panicked, remembering his body falling helplessly, and for the first time Tony considers what her eternity means for their relationship.  He will grow old and die, all but guaranteed to beat his daughter to the grave – as it should be – but she will never join him.  She will live on, eternally seventeen, and she had just been forced to face his very real mortality.

                “Enzo will go up in the suit next time,” he tells her, grabbing her hand and squeezing.  “We already talked about it.  He’s less breakable, so he’ll do the test drives.  Calm down, Care.  I’m not going to die.”

                “I couldn’t _do_ anything,” Caroline whispers, a tear running out of her eye.  “I don’t get the stuff you guys talk about, computers and robots and the mechanics.  I had no idea if the suit would work, and it didn’t, and you could have _died_.”

                “But you saved me,” Tony grins down at her, and it’s his mature grin, the one just for her.  “My little hero.”

                “I’m not ready for you to die,” Caroline says, burying her face against his hair, and Tony’s arms come up to hug her tightly.  His grip is warm and reassuring and so very _there_ , and she realizes that this is what she’s needed for the past few weeks.  For him to hug her and call him his hero, because Enzo could know everything there was to know about mechanics, but he would never know _this_ , the comfort of being held by her dad.

                And that was all she needed.

 

_Loyalty_

                The first time Enzo saves her life they’re in Berlin and somehow the target knows about vampires.

                He’s hired Hunters, talented Hunters, and they are prepared for her.

                Caroline gets shot in the head, and that’s the beginning of the flashbacks for her.  Because these Hunters don’t just want to kill her, they want to know why she’s there.  She’s back in the cage, being tortured and taunted by Jules.  She’s back in the crypt, her step-father trying to fix her with sunlight.  She’s tied up by Alaric, being told she’s a monster by the man she tried to comfort for Bill’s murder, her words being thrown back into her face.

                It was something she hadn’t expected, the flashbacks, and they leave her feeling helpless and lost and like she’s eighteen years old and a newbie vampire again.

                Enzo manages to get control of their weapons – electronic UV rays, syringes of vervain set to timers, all sorts of high tech devices made for torturing vampires – and then comes in like her avenging angel and tears them all apart. It’s one of the rare times where his bull-in-a-China-shop approach proves to be effective, and she’s never been so happy to see him.

                “They’re going to start calling you the Techno Ripper, if you’re not careful,” Caroline says to him, when they’ve reached safety.  She had completed the mission, killed the target, and now they sit next to each other back in New York, fingers laced tightly.

                “For you I’d rip apart the very top brass of SHIELD,” Enzo says simply, and Caroline squeezes his hand in recognition of this.  They both enjoy their lives with SHIELD, are proud of their accomplishments, and would toss it all away in a second to save the other.

                Caroline can remember days in Mystic Falls, planning the best way to keep Elena alive and thinks that they had all been such fools back then.  She thought they’d been so loyal, that she’d known what friendship and loyalty was.

                Friendship and loyalty wasn’t dying for someone, it was killing for them. 

                Dying was easy.

 

_Klaus_

                The first time Enzo meets Klaus he’s just finished up a solo mission.  It was an easy in and out, uploading a virus into a system to copy files, and he decides to stop and have a drink in celebration before returning to New York.  He and Caroline have been partners for nearly a year and so he knows about Klaus – not every dirty detail, but enough to fill in the blanks that Damon’s story left.

                He doesn’t know who the vampire that takes a seat across from him is at first.  Not until he introduces himself.

                “You’re new around here, so I suppose you can be forgiven for not introducing yourself.  But in the future, you should know it’s good manners to meet the King before making yourself at home.”

                “I don’t plan on making myself at home,” Enzo replies easily, eyeing the blonde vampire across from him.  He looks to be mid-twenties, but there’s something about him that screams age and power.  Enzo is old friends with power now, though, and he finds himself less than impressed.  “Just stopping for a drink.  Who are you?”

                “The King you so rudely _didn’t_ introduce yourself to.” The man leans back and crosses his arms, eyeing Enzo belligerently.

                The words remind Enzo of Caroline’s warning about New Orleans, and he realizes that this is the infamous Hybrid.  Some days, Enzo can’t tell who left the more permanent mark on his girl – Klaus or Loki – but he knows that he dislikes them both on principle.

                “Well, I’m just here for a few more hours, so we can remain unintroduced.” Enzo’s eyes dart over Klaus’ shoulder, to where a man in a suit is watching them impatiently, and he smirks lightly at the Hybrid.  “Looks like your lackey over there is wanting a word.”

                Enzo leaves while Klaus is glancing over his shoulder, towards the man at the bar, thinking that will be the end of it, but the Hybrid is faster than expected, and Enzo finds himself pinned to the wall just next to the door.  Enzo curses in Russian under his breath, a habit he picked up from Natasha.  He thinks that the this could be the end – not out on a mission as he’d expected his life to end, but rather out with a whimper at Klaus’ hands – but instead the Hybrid leans in and…

                _Sniffs him?_

                “You smell like her.  How do you know her?”

                He means Caroline, of course.  There could be no other her that would get this reaction from the Hybrid.  Enzo knows his girl, knows the effect she has on the people around her, so he’s not surprised that Klaus’ eyes are dark and angry and thirsty for information about her.  But he won’t get it from Enzo.

                “Answer me!” Klaus demands when Enzo remains silent, and Enzo just stares back.  He’s a SHIELD agent, and even if he weren’t, he spent seventy years enjoying the hospitality of Augustine.  There is nothing this man can do to him that hasn’t already been done, that, most likely, will be done again.  “Are you connected to her through that read headed harpy?”

                Klaus had met Natasha, Enzo had forgotten that, and Enzo gives him a tight grin.

                “Red headed harpy.  I’ll have to tell Nat you called her that.”

                “You’re in my city, no one would stop me from killing you-”

                “Caroline would never forgive you,” Enzo cuts him off, hitting his weak spot with ease.  “Would make it her life’s mission to end you. And Caroline is nothing if not tenacious.”

                “You seem so very sure of that, even though I created her blood line.”

                “Doesn’t matter,” Enzo replies with a shrug.  “She’d still do it.  Just as I would for her.  Let me go, Klaus.  I’m not one of yours.  I’m hers.”

                Klaus glares at him, not liking this news, and he’s practically seething, but Enzo watches him with a calm expression, refusing to let himself be cowed.

                “You and Loki, she does gain herself such interesting companions,” he growls out, and Enzo feels a jolt of surprise.

                “You met Loki?” he asks with surprise.

                “You have not,” Klaus responds, slowly releasing his grip on Enzo’s neck.

                “No, but I would have a few choice words for him if I did.  Honestly, I’d have a few choice words for you as well, only I think she’s said everything she needs to, to you.”

                Klaus fully releases his grip, giving Enzo a tiny shove towards the door.

                “Perhaps,” Klaus says enigmatically.  “For now. When you see her again, tell her I say hello.”

                Enzo leaves, relieved his head is still attached to his neck, and making the silent decision to not pass Klaus’ message onto Caroline.  Nor will he mention this meeting to her.

_Engagement_

“I think I’m going to propose to her.”

                Caroline looks up from her book, a history of firearms that Natasha had given her for her birthday, and stares at her father.  His gaze is zeroed in on Enzo and Pepper, who are huddled over something on a screen across the room.  She sees Enzo’s back stiffen, clearly he heard Tony’s statement, but then he relaxes into one of his charming smirks when Pepper asks what’s wrong and easily turns the subject around.

                “That’s a big step,” Caroline murmurs, closing her book and sitting up from her lounge.  She pats the cushion next to her, and Tony comes and sits, reaching down to grab her leg and pull them back up over his lap.  She can remember sitting like this often as a little girl on the rare occasions she got to spend with Tony.  He had been so charismatic and larger than life and Caroline hadn’t yet been old enough to feel like a burden to him.  Those had been easier times, but the ones they have now are better.

                Her dad is growing up.  He’s being a dad, and now he’s ready to take the leap.

                “She’s everything to me… well, everything that you don’t already cover” – Tony smiles at her and ruffles her hair, and Caroline rolls her eyes and smooths it out because he knows how much she hates that – “and I guess, I don’t see the point in not being married to her.”

                “You’ve been married to her for as long as I can remember,” Caroline replies dryly, opening her book once more.  “I’m glad you’ve finally caught up enough to make it official.”

                But despite her tone, there is a huge grin on her face, and they both know that she couldn’t be happier for her father.  Pepper is good for him.  She makes him want to be better, and she keeps him in line.  She’s also great with Caroline, always has been, even when she was a pouting beauty queen brat with all of her father’s vanity and none of his enormous genius.

                Tony isn’t the only one who’s grown up.

                “Do you have a ring?” she asks after trying to read again, but now the cat’s been let out of the bag, and Caroline might be an Agent of SHIELD, but she’s still Miss Mystic Falls, and she’s already imagining the wedding.  Soft colors, minimal pink so as not to clash with Pepper’s hair.  She’ll have to talk her father out of arriving in the suit, because a traditional wedding is what would suit Pepper best.  She’s already designing the cake in her mind – three tiered with elegant black accents – when she catches her father’s eye.  He’s smiling at her, an almost bittersweet smile that’s at odds with his usual devil-may-care attitude.  “What?”

                “You’re going into planning mode.  It’s a party, and you have to run it… I haven’t seen you like this since – well, since you decided to become Agent Forbes.  I guess I missed it a little bit.  My control freak daughter.”

                “I’m still a control freak,” Caroline replied, hitting him lightly on the arm with her book.  “Just ask Enzo.  In fact, I’ve probably even gotten worse.  Not only do I arrange _my_ closet by style and color, but I’ve arranged his _and_ Natasha’s.  I tried to do it to Barton’s, but he threatened to blow me up.  And Maria Hill told me she’d never had a birthday party as well arranged as the one I threw for her three months ago.”

                Tony snorts at that, and Caroline is somewhat relieved to see his usual expression back on his face.  Maudlin doesn’t suit Tony Stark, doesn’t suit their relationship. 

                “Well, I’ll ask you now before you blow up – Caroline Forbes, will you plan my wedding?”

                Caroline is ready to squeal and say yes, because _duh_ she’ll plan the wedding, but she’s a SHIELD agent now, and that means maintaining a certain level of poise, even behind closed doors.

                “You should probably ask Pepper if there will be a wedding _to_ plan,” she replied with a sniff and a raised nose.  Tony smiles at her and ruffles her hair again before pushing her legs off his lap and getting up.

                “Your grandmother’s ring,” he said pausing on his way over to the bar.  “I thought I’d use that.”

                And damn agent poise, because that news makes Caroline’s eyes well with tears.  She’s seen that ring.  It’s beautiful and elegant and so very, very Pepper.  She sniffles and subtly wipes her fingers under eyes.  She shoots a glare at Enzo, who is snickering at her over Pepper’s shoulder and buries her face back in her book.

                Her daddy’s getting married.  She’s allowed to get a little emotional.


End file.
